Boeing tells regulators how it will fix aircraft safety

Boeing Officials explained their plan to improve manufacturing quality and safety during a three-hour meeting Thursday with federal officials, who will continue restrictions placed on the company after one of its jets suffered an explosion of a fuselage panel in January.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker said the plan is comprehensive and includes encouraging Boeing employees to speak out about safety issues.

“This is a guide to a new way for Boeing to do business.” Whitaker told reporters after the meeting. “Boeing has laid out their roadmap and now they need to execute it.”

Boeing released an 11-page summary of its “Product Quality and Safety Plan,” which outlines measures the company is taking, including increased inspections and tighter controls on suppliers.

CEO David Calhoun, who announced after the Jan. 5 explosion during an Alaska Airlines flight that he would step down at the end of the year, said the document was drawn up based on feedback from employees, the FAA, airlines and independent experts. .

“Many of these actions are underway and our team is committed to executing each element of the plan,” Calhoun said in a statement. “It is through this continuous process of learning and improvement that our industry has made commercial aviation the safest form of transportation. The actions we are taking today will further strengthen that foundation.”

Stephanie Pope, Calhoun’s potential successor, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer and chief executive officer of Boeing’s commercial airplane division, said the plan was designed to improve employee training, simplify manufacturing, “eliminate defects at the source and elevate our safety and quality culture.”

No one was injured during a January 5 door plug explosion on a relatively new Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 while flying above Oregon. Accident investigators determined that screws used to help secure the panel were missing following repair work at a Boeing factory.

The accident further damaged Boeing’s reputation, led to several civil conflicts and criminal investigationsand led Whitaker to request the report that Boeing delivered on Thursday.

Whitaker said he wants Boeing to develop a comprehensive and detailed plan that improves the manufacturing process, quality and safety management, and encourages employees to raise safety concerns.

“These are all elements of the plan,” Whitaker said. He added that Boeing accepted all security recommendations made earlier this year by a panel of independent security experts.

Even so, Whitaker said, the FAA will continue to limit production of the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling plane, and insist on approving every plane that rolls off the assembly line. He said the FAA will also maintain a “significant increase” of safety inspectors at factories run by Boeing and its main supplier, Spirit AeroSystems.

Boeing’s recent troubles could expose it to criminal prosecution related to the deadly crashes of two Max jets in 2018 and 2019. The Justice Department said two weeks ago that Boeing violated the terms of a settlement. 2021 Sale which allowed him to avoid prosecution for fraud. The charge was based on the company allegedly misleading regulators about a flight control system that was implicated in the crashes.

Whistleblowers accused the company of taking shortcuts that put passengers in danger, an allegation that Boeing disputes. A panel convened by the FAA before the explosion found deficiencies in the aircraft manufacturer safety culture.

Most of the recent problems are related to the Max, but Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems have also faced manufacturing flaws in a larger plane, the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing has suffered setbacks in other programs, including its Starliner space capsulea military refueling tanker and a new Air Force Onepresidential jets.

Boeing officials promised regain trust regulators and the flying public. Boeing has Got behind rival Airbus, and the setbacks in production harm the company ability to generate money.

The company says it is promoting a positive safety culture by improving worker training, reducing “work-in-place” – assembly tasks that are performed outside of their proper chronological order – and closely monitoring Spirit AeroSystems, including preventing the supplier sends defective airframes to Boeing.

The plane that suffered a door plug rupture was being repaired because it had damaged rivets when it arrived at a Boeing factory from Spirit.